Risk on, risk off

Trade tensions loosened on reports that President Trump will meet with China’s Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in November. But there is still plenty of risk, fear and uncertainty to go around between Brexit, Italy’s budget and the Saudi investigation.

Dollar fluctuating with risk

The greenback gained Friday morning off of an increased risk-off mood in the markets related to the Italian budget and other geopolitical concerns. However, the risk appetite increased as the U.S. market opened.

EUR/USD dropped from the highs of 1.152 Thursday to 1.144 Friday morning. But as improvements on the trade environment were reported, the pair is closer to 1.148.

President Trump’s meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in November is giving hope to those concerned over the trade war between the two countries.

Mnuchin pulls out of Davos in the Desert

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is the latest finance official to pull out of an investment conference being organized by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince later this month.

As questions mount about what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi after entering a Saudi consulate in Turkey, more officials are distancing themselves from Saudi Arabia.

IMF’s Christine Lagarde deferred her trip earlier this week.

Loonie loses on inflation, retail sales

The USD/CAD pair shot up Friday morning after worse-than-expected data out of Canada.

The pair was slowly declining to 1.303 and then spiked to 1.310 after Bank of Canada’s core consumer price index grew only 1.5% YoY in September compared to 1.8% estimated. The month-over-month figure had no growth compared to estimates of 0.2%.

Retail sales for August also missed expectations. With the core figure declining 0.1% MoM, compared to 0.3% expected. The July numbers were also revised slightly lower.